Rebekah and I made a trip to the hospital today for her first ultrasound. This was only our second appointment to see a midwife and the first time we got a glimpse of our baby. There's no denying it now: she's definitely pregnant. I suppose I've been in denial. I mean, maybe Rebekah's upset stomach was from something else, right? And pregnancy tests aren't 100% accurate.... But all that went away today as I watched a baby appear on the ultrasound monitor.
As the midwife moved the ultrasound transducer across Rebekah's abdomen, parts of the baby jumped into view.
There are two hands,
the midwife said with a deep Norwegian accent. And two feet.
Our baby has two hands and two feet?
I asked Rebekah. That's normal, right?
I added with a grin.
The midwife moved the transducer around for a while, taking measurements, pointing out different parts of the baby, and printing sonograms. She stopped when she located the heart and let us watch as the four chambers pumped in their perfect pattern. The baby was clearly moving around the whole time, though Rebekah didn't feel anything (and hasn't yet).
Unfortunately, the baby isn't far enough along to determine its sex. The midwife we saw in mid-May (the one who will be performing the birth) estimated the due date for early December and scheduled the ultrasound based on that information. Using the measurements she took, the midwife we saw today estimated the due date to be December 16th. The baby's sex can usually be determined after the sixteenth week, so we were just a bit too early.
I figure it's a good thing that pregnancies last nine months: it gives me a decent amount of time to get used to the idea of being a dad. By the time Rebekah goes into labor, I should be all set.
This sonogram is a profile of our baby. The baby's head is on the right, facing down. The spine is clearly visible on top heading from the head all the way to the left. The black area in the baby on the left is the baby's stomach. I've added a couple more sonograms to our gallery, too.
